not's recent activity
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Comment on How is Tildes doing? in ~tildes
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Comment on Ban on single-use plastic items approved by European Parliament in ~enviro
not Link Parentcould you quote the part where you think OP says this?acting like this legislation is pointless virtue signalling
could you quote the part where you think OP says this?
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Comment on Reddit's replacement for Gold (with "Reddit Premium" and "Coins") has now rolled out in ~tech
not Link ParentThe angle I've seen festivals pushing here is: less risk of theft: People are unlikely to carry a lot of cash, so there's less to steal. Same for the shops. easier payments: many people expect to...Seems like all the big ones now want you to buy their tokens/tickets/whatever they call them, and use that as the only currency for everything at the festival
The angle I've seen festivals pushing here is:
- less risk of theft: People are unlikely to carry a lot of cash, so there's less to steal. Same for the shops.
- easier payments: many people expect to be able to do cashless payments. However having cashless payments at many food/drink locations in the middle of nowhere can be hard. In addition, the shops don't need to individually deal with payment processing.
- easier accounting: As I understand, the food/drink stands pay a portion of their sales to the festival as a fee. Using a second currency simplifies this: when the shops turn in their coins, the fees can be automatically deducted and there's no ways shops can cheat it. Similarly, the shops can just receive one big electronic payment at the end of the festival.
I'm not saying these reasons justify it, I just thought I'd chime in with some of the supposed advantages.
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Comment on Damsel in distress Part 1 - Tropes vs. women in video games in ~games
not Link ParentI think, as someone pointed out, that there seems to be a general nonacceptance in some parts of gaming towards the fact that Games are now a popular medium that can and should be criticized like...I think, as someone pointed out, that there seems to be a general nonacceptance in some parts of gaming towards the fact that Games are now a popular medium that can and should be criticized like any other element of society. This is also kind of shown shown by the general hostility and gatekeeping towards game reviewers.
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Comment on Daily Tildes discussion - minor group updates in ~tildes.official
not Link ParentI agree group discovery should be improved, but I'm not sure a glorified /r/all is really the way. Deimos has also expressed concern over such a thing before. I think the best way is possibly a...I agree group discovery should be improved, but I'm not sure a glorified /r/all is really the way. Deimos has also expressed concern over such a thing before. I think the best way is possibly a screen where you can select your initial groups when you register.
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Comment on Which domain registrar has the best pricing / services? in ~comp
not Link ParentBe careful with sites like these. Aparently, there are "domain price comparison" sites out there that buy the domains when you search for them, and sell them back to you at a premium.Be careful with sites like these. Aparently, there are "domain price comparison" sites out there that buy the domains when you search for them, and sell them back to you at a premium.
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Comment on Which domain registrar has the best pricing / services? in ~comp
not Link ParentJust don't use their nameservers. The free nameservers that come with the domains for free are absolute garbage, presumably to get you to upgrade to "premium dns". It was only when I switched (to...Just don't use their nameservers. The free nameservers that come with the domains for free are absolute garbage, presumably to get you to upgrade to "premium dns". It was only when I switched (to cloudflare DNS) that I realized DNS propagation isn't actually supposed to take hours, but minuted at most.
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Comment on GitLab Ultimate and Gold now free for education and open source in ~tech
not Link ParentEnjoy it while it lasts :). I'm sure it will be replaced my microsoft Imagine soon.Enjoy it while it lasts :). I'm sure it will be replaced my microsoft Imagine soon.
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Comment on Sub-tildes have a fundamental problem. Can it be solved? in ~tildes
not Link ParentRegarding the moving specifically, I think that might be a bit detrimental. An article can be written and discussion can be had at a number of levels of sophistication, and that there is value in...Regarding the moving specifically, I think that might be a bit detrimental. An article can be written and discussion can be had at a number of levels of sophistication, and that there is value in that. Lumping these together might be a disservice to both groups. Of course, care would need to be given that duplicates don't dominate.
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Comment on Sub-tildes have a fundamental problem. Can it be solved? in ~tildes
not Link ParentThat just postpones the problem. The post would still receive a lot of low-quality attention once it bubbles up.That just postpones the problem. The post would still receive a lot of low-quality attention once it bubbles up.
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Comment on Sub-tildes have a fundamental problem. Can it be solved? in ~tildes
not (edited )Link ParentI think vote weight is a great idea to counteract this, since it puts submissions to deeper groups at a big disadvantage. Thus, it would make sense to put your post in the least specific group...I think vote weight is a great idea to counteract this, since it puts submissions to deeper groups at a big disadvantage. Thus, it would make sense to put your post in the least specific group where you think it will get upvotes. So the tabloid poster would have the highest chance of success if they posted in ~sci instead of the more specific group.
My scenario is based on how they currently work and how I've heard @Deimos describe the plan for them. AFAICT, nobody has mentioned this issue yet, so that's why I decided to write a post on it.
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Comment on What are thoughts on image-only groups similar to subreddits like quityourbullshit, me_irl, inceltears etc in ~tildes
not Link ParentI think regardless of how you feel about this issue, most people will agree that adding it right now would be a bad idea. It might be worth coming back to when the site is larger.I think regardless of how you feel about this issue, most people will agree that adding it right now would be a bad idea. It might be worth coming back to when the site is larger.
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Comment on Sub-tildes have a fundamental problem. Can it be solved? in ~tildes
not Link ParentI didn't miss out on that, it's actually part of the problem. Posts that are well-liked will be victims of their own success, discussion wise. The existence of high-quality comments discouraging...I didn't miss out on that, it's actually part of the problem. Posts that are well-liked will be victims of their own success, discussion wise. The existence of high-quality comments discouraging low-quality posts might reduce this problem though, agreed.
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Comment on Daily Tildes discussion - what missing/broken things are the most "shocking"? in ~tildes.official
not Link ParentI've seen that, but I still wanted to note that I think it's becoming a problem now already, sooner than expected.I've seen that, but I still wanted to note that I think it's becoming a problem now already, sooner than expected.
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Sub-tildes have a fundamental problem. Can it be solved?
I've been doing some thinking and concluded that in it's current form, tildes design has a fundamental problem that is going to make high-quality discussions nearly impossible. Assumptions I'm...
I've been doing some thinking and concluded that in it's current form, tildes design has a fundamental problem that is going to make high-quality discussions nearly impossible.
Assumptions
I'm relying on four assumptions here:
- A discussion's quality is proportional to it's exclusiveness. In other words, the more wide the audience participating in a discussion is, the worse the discussion gets. It's not hard to see this. A discussion about a discovery in cancer reasearch on a news site will be much lower quality than among cancer reasearchers. This has also been shown to be true by reddit's /r/all.
- tildes get more specific, the "deeper" they are in the hierachy. ~sci.biology.cancer is more specific than ~sci. ~sci also a has more subscribers.
- tildes.net wants to use this specialization to foster high-quality and qualified discussions on specific topics.
- tilde submissions "bubble up", as they currently do
The Problem
You might be able to see what I'm getting at. I think these three together are a fundamental problem for the quality of discussion in subgroups:
- Highly upvoted posts from specific subgroups will be exposed to wider audiences, thus lowering the quality of discussion.
- More generic posts have a higher likelihood of receiving upvotes from the more general groups above them, thus lowering the quality of submissions.
A Scenario
Let's simulate a scenario using my above assumptions. This might be unhelpful, since it's very easy to poke holes in such a specific scenario. This is more intended as an overall picture of the incentives the users have.
We have three submissions to ~sci.biology.cancer, about the news of three different discoveries:
- A link to an original scientific paper with it's original title
- A link to an original scientific paper, with a modified title
- A link to a news story in a popular tabloid newspaper, with it's clickbait title
So, how would these fare?
- The first submission would be upvoted by ~sci.biology.cancer subscribers, who understand the paper and topic, but are low in numbers.
- The second submission would be upvoted by ~sci.biology, who are familiar enough to understand the modified title.
- The third submission can be understood by anyone, and would be upvoted by the whole of ~sci, slingshotting to the top.
Let's take at the result in ~sci.biology.cancer:
The highest ranked post is now a clickbait article of no significant interest to anyone actually knowledgeable about the topic, filled with unqualified discussion. The second ranked post is slightly better, but still less useful than the first post, which is being drowned out by other submissions.
Conclusion
As a submitter with the current system, instead of submitting high quality content that interests the subtilde, it is in your interest to submit a post that will appeal to the lowest common denominator, the subtildes above you. This will significantly decrease the quality of specialized subtildes.
Ideas
I believe the bubbling up mechanic must be modified in some way to prevent this unfortunate systemic issue. I don't really have a good solution, but here's some ideas to get the brainstorming going:
- No participation (voting/commenting) for users higher up the chain. This would be very extreme.
- users don't see comments made higher-up the chain. ~sci.biology would not see ~sci comments. This would be extraordinarily confusing and have weird edge cases.
- Votes would be counted separately for each part of the sub-tilde chain. A post might be highly upvoted in ~sci, but only receive a few upvotes in ~sci.biology. I like this idea in general, but it does not solve the problem of the low-quality responses landing in ~sci.biology.cancer too. Maybe that's just an acceptable trade-off, though.
What are your thoughts on this?
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Comment on Daily Tildes discussion - what missing/broken things are the most "shocking"? in ~tildes.official
not LinkI think one of the biggest issues right now is the default subscriptions, or lack of separation between tildes. Since currently everyone posts on all tildes, the average standard of discussion is...I think one of the biggest issues right now is the default subscriptions, or lack of separation between tildes. Since currently everyone posts on all tildes, the average standard of discussion is low. I'd like to see it get replaced with an onboarding process where you can select the tildes you are interested in.
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Comment on What's the best-written software (open-source or otherwise) you've used or otherwise interacted with? in ~comp
not LinkI'm surprised I'd seen nobody mention vi/vim... what an incredible design! Alone the fact that it still remains relevant after 40+ years is incredible.I'm surprised I'd seen nobody mention
vi/vim... what an incredible design! Alone the fact that it still remains relevant after 40+ years is incredible. -
Comment on Idea: show a random comment at the top of the thread in ~tildes
not Link ParentI'm not sure saying "it's like sorting by new" is a particularly good thing for suggesting a default sort, when you consider that on reddit, the only times I've seen people refer to sorting...I'm not sure saying "it's like sorting by new" is a particularly good thing for suggesting a default sort, when you consider that on reddit, the only times I've seen people refer to sorting comments by new, it's to complain about their content and obnoxiousness.
Existing sites with the bump system, like forums and imageboards have suffered from the problem of seperating useful from non-useful bumps themselves for nearly decades, so I'm not sure if such a simple bump system will really work or scale. 4chan has a limit on how often a thread can be bumped and old threads are removed, which helps a lot, but it still does suffer from large signal noise issues.
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Comment on How does/will subscription work with sub~s? How do you think it should work? in ~tildes
not Link ParentI think having two urls is just bound to cause confusion. However, if the "symbolic link" (sub~ that don't actually contain any posts, but point to another ~) idea goes through, it might be...I think having two urls is just bound to cause confusion. However, if the "symbolic link" (sub~ that don't actually contain any posts, but point to another ~) idea goes through, it might be possible to create a ~all tilde that behaves like this.
However, I'm not sure it will be useful. Ideally, the list of top-level tildes would be low, making this not as necessary as on sites like reddit.
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Comment on How do you log your reads? in ~books
not LinkI'm curious, people who use goodreads, why do you use it? I've personally never felt the need to use any site to catalog my reading.I'm curious, people who use goodreads, why do you use it? I've personally never felt the need to use any site to catalog my reading.
Another important thing is that the less things people agree on, the less deep actual arguments or discussions will go. The discussion just ends up stagnating on the 101 of the relevant topic and never progresses beyond that. People will always disagree, the question is really just what level they will disagree on. I'd much rather disagree about intricacies of social policy than argue about if feminists are actually evil for the 500th time. It's just not an interesting discussion to be having.
That said, one thing I don't like and is often conflated but really something different is circlejerks. Circlejerks are for me characterized by a distinct lack of discussion, instead replaced by an endless chain of agreement. On reddit, this is the case in almost every thread. The consistent pattern is always:
[joke or sarcastic comment about the person pictured in the submission]
yeah, [statement how idiotic that person is]
[agreement]
These people are truly [statement]
I think there is nothing wrong with a space where most people generally agree on certain topics, an "echo chamber". But I do think you should try to prevent the dynamics that lead to circlejerks.